Does anyone NOT feed on demand?

[CoffeePuffin]

I have fed on demand (but not letting her go more than 4 hours, the advice from my cleft nurse) since Millie was born. But I've just been reading a book that says feeding on a structured schedule will help them sleep through the night, eliminate colic etc. I don't see how feeding on a schedule would work though. Sometimes for instance, Millie will want more milk after just two hours. I can't say to her "No, you have to wait another two hours"..

Does anyone feed according to a schedule, and how does it work for you?

 

[vickytoria88]

Hiya. I started off BFing and fed on demand then bt for various reasons i stoped and now FF. My daught had really bad colic and would scream fromt he moment she woke up untill the moment she went to bed.

I feed her 7oz every 3 hours during the day and she has slept though since she was 6 weeks out now, thats 12 hours nearly every night!!! i think its quite important to seet a routine. But that just mihgt be me, i like to be organised and very rairly does she need feeding befor the 3 hours is up.

 

[Ktothema]

I do half and half. Ds is fed every 4 hrs in the day but we slip from that if he's hungry earlier. He generally goes off like clockwork though.

 

[Jem88]

We fed on demand but Sophie put herself into a every 3hrs routine (I can't remember how old she was though). x

 

[rory83coyotes]

The only one I have fed on a schedule was my nicu baby. They fed her every three hours because she didn't cry when hungry. It stayed the same when she came home.

 

[OmarsMum]

We fed on schedule as Omar never cried for milk & he was suffering from reflux. He was on a bottle every 4 hours at that age & every 6 -7 hours at night. At 3 months he dropped his night feeds & was sleeping through for 12-13 hrs at night wihtout feed inbetween

 

[BethHx]

I have recently got Izzy into a good routine and she sleeps twelve hours a night.
I offer her a bottle every 3.5 hours which she takes mostly. Occasionally she will cry between for a feed which i give her too.

When i fed on demand she was taking an ounce an hour, was a nightmare x

 

[lozzy21]

If that book is written by a woman with the initials GF throw it in the bin, i know so many woman who have been left feeling like failures because their babys wouldent do what the book said when really babys are not supposed to feed every 4 hours and sleep 12 hours at a young age.

 

[vintage67]

Most babies will kind of put themselves on a schedule sometime around 8-12 weeks.

There are always exceptions.

 

[Saphira]

Kinda sorta in the first 4-6 months really, but following her schedule we quickly took note of. For a while there we made a bottle up after 2hrs. She was like a clock, two hours after a bottle she'd start getting upset and we knew, bottle time! I think following a schedule as in bottle every 4hrs. would have been impossible for her because there's no way she could have waited that long so we went with her signs of hunger instead.

 

[MommaAlexis]

I feed on a three hour schedule but base it on how fussy she is. She gets 4oz every 3 hours. At her noon feed and 8pm feed I give her 6oz now because otherwise she gets fussy early. She sleeps 12 hours at night. I started 3 oz every 3 hours until I could tell which times of day she was hungriest. She never wants a feed early now I personally have no idea how to feed on demand, because I pumped for 6 weeks and had to keep her on a schedule. Now I just pay attention to what she wants and I can plan my entire day. She wakes up at 9am on the DOT every morning. I feed her, change her, she takes another 3hour nap. I wake her up at 12, feed her 6oz, change her and we go out or get ready or clean around the house and she stays up. I feed her 4 oz at 3 o clock. She plays in her swing and dozes off and on until 6 where I feed her 4oz, change her again and then she takes a nap until 8 where she wakes up and wants to eat early which is another 6oz bottle. She fusses and fights sleeps until 9pm (on the dot again) where she passes out pretty much wherever she is. She then wakes up between 12-1am if we've been home and bored all day but sleeps through if we've been out all day. I can plan my entire day and she's happy as a clam. Whenever she starts fussing more during the day I'll bump up that bottle to another 6oz one and continue changing all the 4oz ones to 6oz ones until she's happy again. I don't listen to guidelines per se, but it is a schedule and not on demand because she's never left hungry? I always feed her before she has the chance to get to the point of crying for food. Whenever she wants more food it only messes with my schedule for one day, the next day I'll give her 2oz extra on the feed BEFORE the one she fussed at the day before.